Bean’s Quest is a platformer for those who think that platformers on iOS are just too easy. Players control a constantly bouncing bean, who is trying to rescue his love from the evil sorcerer who stole her, because evil sorcerers just haven’t heard of internet dating. Find a nice goth girl who can appreciate your darkness, evil sorcerers. Well, this poor boy-turned-bean can’t stay still, so he must bounce constantly, able to move left and right, while bopping enemies on the head, and trying to make his way through the 6 worlds of the game. This update to the game is the “Final” version, with two additional worlds added, and a new final boss battle.

The game takes a particular visual inspiration from the 16-bit era; where many games are built around the more limited visuals and sound of the 8-bit era, this game utilizes expanded color palletes and further digital instrumentation that the later era provided, while still feeling retro. The constantly bouncing protagonist affords the game to have a touchscreen-friendly control scheme: tap on the left side of the screen to go left, tap on the right to go right, simple as that. It’s a universal app as well, and looks great on the iPad.

Bean’s Quest is built around being challenging. There are three medals in each level: one for collecting all the gems, one for rescuing the creature Axolotol, and the other for clearing it under a certain number of bounces. The gems are often positioned in such ways that require precise movement and knowledge of the physics of game. Same with collecting Axolotol and especially with trying to complete the level with a minimal number of jumps. That in particular is hard from the get-go, and requires a nearly perfect run of the level. Completionists will have a doozy of a time with this game.

However, the game loses a lot of difficulty if completionism is discarded. It doesn’t become easy, per se – but levels take a lot less time to complete when not trying to get those seemingly-impossible-to-collect gems. As such, this one probably comes more recommended for those who want a challenge provided by a meta-game as opposed to just the game itself. Otherwise, this is a fun 16-bit romp that fits well on the touchscreen.

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